Events | Number 2, September 2003 | Hoorolazim: The Great Lagoon

Hoorolazim:
The Great Lagoon

Kamal Liami

In the southwestern parts of Iran and the southeast of Iraq, human history began along the banks of the Hoor, the Lagoon. (In fact there are a number of seasonal lagoons that at times of flood turn into one vast lagoon
known as Hoorolazim, the Great Lagoon.)

Millenniums ago, people moved from the Iranian Plateau to the creeks and deltas of Foraat (Euphrates) and settled there. In the 5th millennium BC, these people built themselves huts of reeds, and made themselves
small boats, and spears and nets by use of which they caught fish. They lived on dairy products from their domesticated water buffaloes and on fish, and on rice which they cultivated on the swampy lands along the lagoon, ideal soil for growth of rice.

By 17th century the people of the region had adopted the Shia sect of Islam and had acquired a tribal social structure which has survived down to the present age. Upon the death of the sheik (the leader), a new head
of the tribe is elected by all the members, all of whom take vows of loyalty. The leader resolves all disputes between individuals, families, and clans.

A part of a tribe may live in Iran and a part in Iraq in which case the political border meant nothing in the past. Those of the tribe who lived in either country freely moved to the other side of the border to visit their relatives
and pay the sheik’s tributes or make a petition against another member of the tribe. Since the eruption of the Iran-Iraq war, however, this free movement has been somehow disrupted.

These people believe that in the middle of the Lagoon there is a mysterious island which they call Hofeiz that no one should visit because, they believe, any person who looks at the island will go mad. At one time even,
during the rule of the Ottomans over the region, a large fleet of small boats searched the Lagoon from one end to another but found no sign of this island.

However, the people of the region continue persistently to believe the existence of the island. The people of the Great Lagoon make fascinating boats which can be seen on the banks of the Lagoon, made of reeds available locally, wood brought to the region form far away, or a combination of both. They also weave mats with fresh reeds and leaves that grow round the reeds. When dry, these mats provide material to make floor covers, baskets, bags, hats etc.

Natural condition The Lagoon spreads over an area of over ten thousand square kilometers. There are permanent lagoons where the papyrus reed grows in abundance and there are seasonal lagoons. As pointed out earlier, at times of flood the seasonal lagoons turn into one vast single lagoon, the Great Lagoon.

In spring, the snow high up on the mountains of Iran and Turkey melts and pours into the Euphrates and Tigris at times overflowing into the lagoons. In fact this is how the lagoons emerged in the first place. The Lagoon covers an area that is 1,500 km long and from 15 to 75 km wide.

The Great Lagoon is a safe home for migrating birds that swarm to the region in winter. Wild ducks usually arrive in October. These ducks have black legs and white feathers and travel all the way from Siberia in beautiful arrays, flapping their wings joyfully towards warmer climates, thus filling the blue sky of the land of the sun with thousands of white dots. At least this was the scene that could be seen down to 1980 when war broke out between Iran and Iraq. For eight years these birds, like many human beings of the region, became homeless and jeopardized. Many died miserably and today wild ducks arrive in appallingly small numbers, groups of 15-20.

Pelicans too come to the region. Sometimes the people of the Lagoon hunt them to use their skins in making drums. Among other major animals of the area are the otter and the wild boar. Wild boars cause heavy
destructions and are therefore seriously sought and skilled. But the people of the Lagoon, being Moslems, do not eat the flesh, which at times they sell to Iranian or Iraqi Christians.